Posted in: Comics, Dynamite | Tagged: Chastity, dynamite, Erik Burnham

A Writer's Commentary: Erik Burnham on Chastity #5

Published Tue, 17 Mar 2020 11:30:27 -0500

Erik Burnham provides a Writer's Commentary on last week's Chastity #5

And here it is, the fifth and final issue of CHASTITY. Erik Burnham here; I scripted this over the plot of artist Daniel Maine. Bryan Valenza threw colors over the linework, Carlos M. Mangual did the lettering, and Matt Idelson wrangled all the puppies into place. Three covers on the finale — Cover A is by Catherine Nodet; Cover B is by Ale Garza and Omi Remalante, Jr; and Cover C is by our own Daniel Maine and Bryan Valenza.

PAGE 01

This is a rough place to start, isn't it?

Our hero, Chastity, has been beaten up. Her special agent pal, Jimmy, has been beheaded. And Miss Valentine is a werewolf.

PAGE 02

Daniel went for some backstory here, and it feeds back nicely into the main story.

PAGE 03

Okay, here's the only thing — we went back and forth about the color of the werewolf. Brown, blonde… it was a real battle royale. In the end, it was a muted blonde, which is a more interesting shade for a werewolf than the blacks, browns, or greys you more often see.

PAGE 07
Okay, so I skipped a few pages of fight scene — they're neat, there's some grievous injury, let's get back to Page 7.

This was one of the few disagreements that we had in plot vs. script; initially, the bit you see in the next few pages — Chastity getting supercharged from werewolf blood — was something that Daniel had intended to be an ability Chastity knows she has.

The catch is: if she knows about it, she wouldn't have spent half of this issue and part of issue 4 getting beaten around by werewolves. Jimmy wouldn't have been killed. Those elements questioned the logic of what Daniel intended, so that was my argument for the change. And he got it.

It goes the other way too; I took out something he'd wanted because I simply didn't like it. When he requested it go back in, I put it back in. You gotta keep things balanced when you're working with another writer in any capacity.

Four more pages of vampire vs. werewolf action and we get to…

PAGE 11
Panel 5 is one of my favorite jokes in the three issues I'd written. Just saying. It was a perfect place for deadpan and I think it worked beautifully.

PAGE 13
The agent didn't initially have a name; but I was listening to a shuffled playlist and Jungle Love popped up… hence, Agent Day.

PAGE 15
I really got a kick out of the size of this burlesque theater.

PAGE 17
And this is where the story ends for Chastity — with a found family. This is a sentiment I'm glad Daniel asked for. It's nice to see the hero's life improve some.

PAGES 18-20
And here's an epilogue with a hint of threat; it's Miss Valentine's family! And they're all werewolves. Rich werewolves.

The Knives Out family, but with lycanthropy.

I think Daniel left it in a good place, and it'd be fun to follow up on… but for now, we're at the end.